Through the Internet, users have access to other computers located anywhere in the world. Users in many types of settings, from home to business to educational, typically connect to the Internet through an access network. In this disclosure, users are referred to as subscribers of the access network, or simply subscribers. When a subscriber has difficulty in connecting to the Internet, the access network provider typically follows a troubleshooting process to determine the source of the problem, which may be with the customer's equipment, with the provider's equipment, or with the Internet itself. A similar process is typically followed when the subscriber has a working connection, but is experiencing degraded performance.
A typical troubleshooting process used by the access network provider starts by gathering information about the status and performance of individual network components within the access network, and at the subscriber's site. The information is then analyzed, using a combination of computerized tools and human judgment. The desired result of the analysis is to identify a particular action which the subscriber or the access network provider can take to resolve the problem. For example, a recommended action for the customer may be to reset the modem or run a virus scan, while a recommended action for the provider may be to increase bandwidth on a virtual circuit in the provider's network.
The conventional troubleshooting process suffers from information overload: there is simply too much information to make sense of using conventional tools, even automated ones. The collected information typically includes thousands of component status codes and events gathered over a period of time. A problem with one component often has side effects on other components, making the diagnosis more difficult.
The conventional troubleshooting process is also reactive, addressing the subscriber's experience with the network only when a subscriber has a negative experience. A proactive process which monitored subscriber usage and periodically determined the quality of the subscriber's network experience could instead notice a change in the subscriber's quality of experience, and address the anomaly before it became a problem noticed by the subscriber. Thus, a need arises for these and other problems to be addressed.